Category: Survival Mindset

Traveling Not all those who wander are lost[1]. We are not men of Numenor keeping the evil of Sauron at bay. In the situation for which this document is written, your goal should be to travel to somewhere where your odds at survival are greater than your current location. Our car has two spare tires– one full-size tire in the back and one smaller one under the front of the car. The car’s manual describes how to change a tire. Our car has a full hydraulic-size jack in the back (in the blue Tupperware container). This jack is much more …

HJL, I saw a link to this in the Galts Gulch Daily Digest. I still am amazed that people think that they deserve such handouts without having to put forth any effort whatsoever. It reminds me of the documentary on the Pruitt-Igoe housing project failure in St. Louis. Pruitt-Igoe was where people who were provided with low income housing allowed their neighborhoods to become overrun with prostitution, crime, and drugs, but were not willing to do anything about it. Other than call the police for someone else to fix their problem that is. My children are Millennials, but they have …

Dear Sir: For those who plan to leave the big cities in the event of disaster, the critical question is when to go. Leaving too soon means missing work and family obligations, but leaving too late may well be fatal. I am guessing the Internet will be down by then, so do you have any wise guidance in advance of that time? Thanks – Worried HJL Replies: This is always the million dollar question, and if I knew the answer I could be a very rich man. The real answer depends on you and your situation. For some, the answer …

Food and Water I recommend making a catalog of everything in our stores, if time allows. Do this for sure if you are staying at our home. Open all of our buckets; some contain non-food items! Do not forget to include items in the garage, shed, and throughout the house that may be useful. This list will be invaluable when it comes to planing what to cache and how to solve problems. You need to know what you have to work with. Obviously, hide this catalog very well. Food The kind of foods you want to pack in your BOB …

Purpose: To quote my spouse, “I didn’t know when I married you that you were a bucket of crazy.” So essentially, this article is intended to help the spouse whom you love but whom is not a prepper. There are many hundred-plus page books written on this subject, but this primer can be read in less than an hour and is tailored to my personal situation. It is the hope of the author that others will create their own such document for family and friends using this as a starting point. Whether I am dead, geographically separated from her, injured, …

Hugh, While I absolutely agree with Mr. Rawles’ statement, he left out the year 1913. That is the year States Rights were finally obliterated for good. While the War Between the States made the Federal Government supreme, the year 1913 legalized the concept. The 16th and 17th Amendments provided for direct income tax and popular elections for Senators. Previously money for Federal operations were apportioned among the states, giving the States power over the Federal. Senators were the representatives of State governments while House Representatives were elected by and represented the individuals. Using a reliable, and still successful technique, the …

“Be prepared,” as the motto goes, means to learn from the past while living in the present, and at the same time preparing for the future. It should also be understood in the active present tense of the word “be”– being. Being prepared means to be in a continual state of being and getting prepared. What for? For what comes next– usually the unknown, at the wrong time, and at a high cost. Do something now to prepare for the future so you’ll be ready to reap the harvest of future opportunities. Remember, someone once said, “Planning is simply about …

I got a clue about prepping on Feb 9, 1971, when I was rolled out of bed at 6am by the Northridge-Sylmar earthquake. Shortly following that unique event, the National Guard came through the neighborhood announcing immediate, mandatory evacuation because the Van Norman earthen dams were expected to collapse and send a 30-foot wall of water into the Sepulveda detention basin through our suburban neighborhood. I was 13 years old; my siblings were 10 and 9. This was a pre-cell phone, pre-ATM era. We camped out at a public park with thousands of others for 24 hours before we could …

HJL- I am an LEO in the Southwest. I had a few experiences recently I thought the readers of the blog would be interested in. First, our Police Department recently switched to Federal Flight Control Buckshot. All I can say is, “WOW”. For those not familiar with it, instead of a wad opening up like a tulip at the front, fins pop out at the back so the shot cup crown stays intact and round. It makes a huge difference. We were seeing all nine pellets within 5-6″ at 25 yards, and honest 8-10″ groups at 40 yards. We were …

I awoke around 9am on Saturday, August 18, 1992. I work the grave yard shift. The news was still about Mt. Spurr, located about 78 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska and on the west side of Cook Inlet. Little did I know the next four days would be some of the more interesting days of my life. [Seismicity remained low through July and the first half of August. Seismic monitoring of the volcano was somewhat compromised by the destruction of the crater rim station. Despite repeated attempts to reinstall the crater-rim station, the closest seismometer was now 4.8 km away. …

As a survivalist/prepper, I hear a lot of, “I don’t want to be a prepper, but I want to be prepared. What should I do? How do I start?” So I compiled a lot of information from FEMA, Red Cross, and other places that have very “basic” information and started typing up a list for them. The four “basic” areas I decided would be a good starting point: getting your whole family involved, what to do before an emergency, what to do after an emergency, and emergency sanitation. I say “basic” because this is only a starting point! This by …

What happens when your world is turned on end and everything you have planned for in life is now null and void. A little background of what I can say about who I am or was. Without being specific I will say that I used to be a government contractor doing things that I won’t discuss. Needless to say I have a tainted view on life and what I believe is coming down the pike. This has majorly shaped the way I prepare and with what. Due to this previous life, big changes in my health, and many other things, …